A former Cy Young winner at the center of every trade rumor in baseball takes the mound Friday night against a rookie already pitching like a keeper. The Cleveland Guardians and Miami Marlins open a three-game series at loanDepot park, and it is the last thing either team does before the All-Star break.
Guardians at Marlins: How to Watch
- First pitch: 7:10 p.m. ET, loanDepot park, Miami
- Probables: LHP Parker Messick (2.80 ERA) vs. RHP Sandy Alcántara (10-4, 4.00)
- Records: Cleveland 48-46, Miami 52-42
The Pitching Matchup
Miami hands the ball to Sandy Alcántara for his 20th start of the season, and there is more riding on the name than the line. The 2022 National League Cy Young winner has spent three straight deadlines as the most talked-about arm on the market, and this is the summer the Marlins finally get to keep him. He faces one of the American League’s better stories in Parker Messick, a 25-year-old left-hander carrying a 2.80 ERA into the start as a Rookie of the Year candidate and first-time All-Star.
Cleveland Guardians’ Parker Messick winds up to deliver in the first inning of a baseball game against the Chicago White Sox in Cleveland, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)
The Hottest Team in Baseball
The Marlins arrive at this game almost unrecognizable from the team they were a month ago. On June 7 they were 31-35 and 14 games behind Atlanta in the National League East. Since then they have been the best team in the sport. Miami is 52-42, has won 16 of its last 20 to match the best such stretch in franchise history, enters Friday on a six-game winning streak, and is 26-8 since June 1. They hold a National League Wild Card spot and sit three games behind Atlanta, tied with Philadelphia near the top of the division.
Cleveland comes in cooler. The Guardians are second in the AL Central and hold a Wild Card spot of their own, but they have dropped four of their last five and lost their most recent series to Minnesota. Both teams would be in the postseason if it started today.
Sandy Stays: What the Deadline Looks Like in Miami
Hours before this game, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the Marlins are expected to keep Alcántara through the Aug. 3 deadline and to add rather than subtract. MLB.com echoed it. Miami is planning to “add strategically,” per the report, with the rotation, bullpen and third base cited as the likeliest targets.
Several forces point the same way. Alcántara is a favorite of owner Bruce Sherman and a clubhouse leader; Sherman spoke glowingly of him on Marlins Radio last week. The economics fit, too: Miami carries one of the lowest payrolls in baseball, Alcántara is its highest-paid player at $17 million, and his deal includes a $21 million club option for next year against a $2 million buyout. With collective bargaining talks pointing toward a possible salary floor that would more than double what Miami spends, trading him now would only push the club further from any future requirement to spend.
Baseball Without Borders at loanDepot park
The Marlins are one of the most international rosters in the National League. Alcántara was born in the Dominican Republic, as were rotation-mate Eury Pérez and infielder-outfielder Otto Lopez. Javier Sanoja and Maximo Acosta came from Venezuela, Leo Jiménez from Panama, Jared Serna from Mexico, and reliever Michael Petersen was born in Great Britain. Cleveland answers with Venezuelans Brayan Rocchio and Gabriel Arias, Dominican star José Ramírez, Panamanian flamethrower Daniel Espino, and a Canadian contingent that includes catcher Bo Naylor and reliever Cade Smith.
Australian second baseman Travis Bazzana, the top overall pick in the 2024 draft, gives Cleveland one of the few Australian-born position players in the majors. The names on both cards run through a lot of the baseball-playing world.
Final Series Before the Break
This is the opener of the last series either club plays before the All-Star break, which raises the temperature on every pitch. A rookie All-Star against a Cy Young winner, two Wild Card teams, and a Miami club that has spent six weeks turning a lost season into a contending one — it is the kind of game the schedule saves for the send-off.
Sandy Alcántara has spent years as the answer to a question other teams kept asking. Friday night, for the first time in a while, Miami gets to keep him and mean it.
